A wide variety of both inorganic and organic materials have been employed for thermal insulation of building structures.
For example, inorganic materials such as fiberglass and so called rock-wool find widespread application in the United States for residential housing.
More recently, organic materials such as polyurethane foam, and styrofoam have been used primarily for other than residential housing applications.
While the prior art materials exhibit varying degrees of effectiveness as thermal insulators, none of the prior art materials has been completely satisfactory from an overall standpoint.
For example, while the organic foams, in general have better thermal insulative properties than fiberglass, the fire retardant and smoke emission characteristics of the organic foams are less than optimum. Indeed, even fiberglass insulation is found to emit large quantities of smoke when exposed to the flame of a propane torch.
Also, the prior art materials are relatively expensive and require raw materials and processing not readily available in many areas of the world. Since the world in general has a shortage of residential housing, this is a decided disadvantage.
Further, the prior art materials are primarily adapted for use in field erected structures and accordingly do not lend themselves to fully advantageous use in industrialized (i.e., factory-assembled) construction.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved thermal insulation material and a process for making the same.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved thermal insulation material suitable for the insulation of building structures such as residential housing.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a thermal insulation having improved thermal and fire retardant characteristics.
It is still another object of this invention to provide an improved thermal insulation which is less expensive than conventional insulations.
A still further object of this invention is to provide an improved thermal insulation material formed from raw materials which are readily available in most areas of the world and which is particularly suited for industrialized construction.